My weekend
Mon, Feb. 13th, 2006 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI feel like I'm finally catching up on life again. I got most of my errands done over the weekend, most of which consisted of buying incredible amounts of food and cooking an awful lot. And TV. Lots and lots of TV. I still have to unpack from Houston, but after that, I will be able to settle back into my old routine again! Joy!
Cooking notes:
- I made white bean and rosemary soup, black bean and chipotle soup, lemon curd, blue corn scones, hummus, yogurt sauce, and granola. I think I may have the tendency to overcook. Just maybe...
- In the process of making the above, I now have chipotle ice cubes and about 9 cups of extra cooked white beans, which I froze.
- I learned not to try and cook three things at the same time when one of those things is lemon curd and needs to be stirred constantly so the eggs don't form curds. On the other hand, I have also found out that if you whisk extremely vigorously after the eggs look like they are busily forming curds, the lemon curd will eventually turn out edible in the end, though not quite as smooth as normal. I also learned that lemon juice is not quite an acceptable substitute for orange juice in soup, since my black bean and chipotle soup now tastes largely of lemon.
- Lemon curd with half the sugar and a wee bit more lemon juice is still not sour enough for my taste. I also can't tell if the thicker, lumpier texture is because of the recipe modifications or because I didn't stir the darn thing enough when it was on the double boiler (I say "double boiler" but what I actually mean is metal bowl plopped on top of pot and in constant need of being adjusted so it doesn't tilt over). I think I'll try with more lemon juice, keep the sugar at half, and maybe cut some of the butter next time.
- This time, when I made yogurt sauce, I dumped all the (non-fat) yogurt into a cheesecloth and left it in the fridge for a few hours so that it'd thicken. I also lightly salted the diced cucumber and left that in the fridge for a few hours as well, to get rid of some extra water, and then rinsed off and squeezed really tightly before adding it to the yogurt. Seems to be ok. I was actually sort of surprised that the non-fat yogurt thickened because I don't think you're supposed to use non-fat yogurt for stuff like that. Oh well. Haven't poisoned self yet.
- Despite careful grocery list composing, I still had to make an emergency Trader Joe's run because I didn't realize my tahini had molded and I really wanted hummus. I contemplated just buying TJ's hummus instead of the tahini, but my inner self revolted.
- I have decided that I will alternate weeks between cooking Western food and Chinese/Asian food, otherwise I will only ever learn to cook![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
heres_luck's recipes and never learn how to cook tasty Chinese food. This would be a crying shame, since I miss homecooked Chinese. Restaurant Chinese is good too, but still not the same.
- I slept through the farmer's market and am irritated at myself because now I have no satsumas! And Safeway's cucumbers have this nasty, waxy, slimy stuff on the outside that just feels gross. Ugh. Great. Am quickly becoming even more of a food snob than I already was.
- Even though I am now very tired of cooking, I feel great satisfaction in knowing that my fridge finally has edible items in it, most of them made completely by ME! Also, my stuff, while by no means gourmet, still tastes better than the company cafeteria food. And now, I must prepare for cooking a Valentine's dinner for my anti-Valentine's party! Will serve white bean soup, carrot salad, chocolate hazelnut mousse cake, and 20 clove garlic chicken. I keep wanting to make more, but must remind self that it is only me and a co-worker andfannishly.
Poor Mr. Fitz-rat is still wheezing, so I have to go pick up more antibiotics for him. So now he'll be taking two.
I have also been madly watching TV over the weekend in a desperate attempt to make room on my Tivo so I can record... even more TV! Hooboy. I've finally finished S4 of Scrubs and caught up with S5, watched all the Olympics I recorded over the weekend (pairs short program!) and watched the European Championships for figure skating.
Now all I have to do is catch up on all the book logging that I've been woefully behind on.
Cooking notes:
- I made white bean and rosemary soup, black bean and chipotle soup, lemon curd, blue corn scones, hummus, yogurt sauce, and granola. I think I may have the tendency to overcook. Just maybe...
- In the process of making the above, I now have chipotle ice cubes and about 9 cups of extra cooked white beans, which I froze.
- I learned not to try and cook three things at the same time when one of those things is lemon curd and needs to be stirred constantly so the eggs don't form curds. On the other hand, I have also found out that if you whisk extremely vigorously after the eggs look like they are busily forming curds, the lemon curd will eventually turn out edible in the end, though not quite as smooth as normal. I also learned that lemon juice is not quite an acceptable substitute for orange juice in soup, since my black bean and chipotle soup now tastes largely of lemon.
- Lemon curd with half the sugar and a wee bit more lemon juice is still not sour enough for my taste. I also can't tell if the thicker, lumpier texture is because of the recipe modifications or because I didn't stir the darn thing enough when it was on the double boiler (I say "double boiler" but what I actually mean is metal bowl plopped on top of pot and in constant need of being adjusted so it doesn't tilt over). I think I'll try with more lemon juice, keep the sugar at half, and maybe cut some of the butter next time.
- This time, when I made yogurt sauce, I dumped all the (non-fat) yogurt into a cheesecloth and left it in the fridge for a few hours so that it'd thicken. I also lightly salted the diced cucumber and left that in the fridge for a few hours as well, to get rid of some extra water, and then rinsed off and squeezed really tightly before adding it to the yogurt. Seems to be ok. I was actually sort of surprised that the non-fat yogurt thickened because I don't think you're supposed to use non-fat yogurt for stuff like that. Oh well. Haven't poisoned self yet.
- Despite careful grocery list composing, I still had to make an emergency Trader Joe's run because I didn't realize my tahini had molded and I really wanted hummus. I contemplated just buying TJ's hummus instead of the tahini, but my inner self revolted.
- I have decided that I will alternate weeks between cooking Western food and Chinese/Asian food, otherwise I will only ever learn to cook
heres_luck's recipes and never learn how to cook tasty Chinese food. This would be a crying shame, since I miss homecooked Chinese. Restaurant Chinese is good too, but still not the same. - I slept through the farmer's market and am irritated at myself because now I have no satsumas! And Safeway's cucumbers have this nasty, waxy, slimy stuff on the outside that just feels gross. Ugh. Great. Am quickly becoming even more of a food snob than I already was.
- Even though I am now very tired of cooking, I feel great satisfaction in knowing that my fridge finally has edible items in it, most of them made completely by ME! Also, my stuff, while by no means gourmet, still tastes better than the company cafeteria food. And now, I must prepare for cooking a Valentine's dinner for my anti-Valentine's party! Will serve white bean soup, carrot salad, chocolate hazelnut mousse cake, and 20 clove garlic chicken. I keep wanting to make more, but must remind self that it is only me and a co-worker and
fannishly.Poor Mr. Fitz-rat is still wheezing, so I have to go pick up more antibiotics for him. So now he'll be taking two.
I have also been madly watching TV over the weekend in a desperate attempt to make room on my Tivo so I can record... even more TV! Hooboy. I've finally finished S4 of Scrubs and caught up with S5, watched all the Olympics I recorded over the weekend (pairs short program!) and watched the European Championships for figure skating.
Now all I have to do is catch up on all the book logging that I've been woefully behind on.
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Tue, Feb. 14th, 2006 11:24 pm (UTC)